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Faculty/Staff Address

Robert L. Caret

August 24, 2000

Education, Innovation, and Pride

Today I want to talk about our future, a future that is full of
optimism and excitement. And, I want to frame the discussion using
three foci: education, innovation, and pride.

For the past six years we have been working to rebuild our
foundation and our focus. After many years of budget reductions,
the former was a bit shaky and the latter a bit diffuse. Today,
thanks to the energy we have expended, thanks to the commitment
that is within us, and thanks to the creativity and innovation that
are a part of this institution, we are healthy and we are strong.
We are growing and we are changing. We are ready to help California
meet the challenges of the new century.

First some brief updates:

Enrollment Management: Six years ago our enrolments were
declining. Today we are growing, despite a strong economy, which
normally means more jobs and fewer students going to school. That
is a good sign and I hope a reflection that people understand
that today's knowledge workers need to be truly educated and not
just trained in a specific skill; they need to be college
graduates, graduates who will continue to grow and evolve in
order to remain timely and support our information economy in the
future.

Student Success: Six years go many of our student service
functions were fragmented, and not user friendlyÐsome would
say unfocused. Today they are much improved, much better
coordinated and are continuing to work to become even better at
what they do. We have come a long way but we also have much more
to do.

Information Resources/Technology/Literacy: Six years ago we
had a small number of isolated islands of technological
innovation and many more islands looking for help to take the
first steps towards such innovation. Today we provide a unified,
state of the art network infrastructure, are in the process of
implementing a campus- and system-wide Administrative Computer
Management System, and have dramatically expanded our repertoire
of course offerings using the new technologies. Many of you may
have read about our phenomenally successful "E-Commerce
Management Certificate Program" offered for the first time last
year by our Division of Continuing Education. Enrollment in this
program was 1,000 in 1999 and is expected to reach 2,000 this
fall. The program has attracted students from throughout the
state and the U.S. as well as from Turkey and the former Soviet
Union. We also received a $1 million grant from the South Korean
computer company, Naray and Co., Inc., to develop the Korean
E-Business Commercialization Institute.

As I look around the auditorium, I am pretty sure I can see such
acronyms as DARS and CMS engraved on some people's foreheads.
Others of you, I am sure are reciting words like PeopleSoft and
CalTeach or CalStateTeach as you sleep. These complex and
multi-faceted programs, into which we have put tremendous effort
and resources, will eventually reap significant improvements and
rewards for us. On our good days, we all know that. My thanks to
all of you involved in these major projects and my encouragement as
we continue moving them forward in the year ahead.

Campus Climate: It is hard to admit we are not perfect and
while we have made great strides in our campus climate
initiatives we also know that there remains more to do. Six years
ago we made a commitment to provide a campus that maximized the
potential for success for all who were part of the campus. Our
campus climate efforts serve as a model for many other
institutions nationally, and our Multicultural Center (Mosaic) is
impacting our day-to-day lives in so many ways. Today we are
seeing the positive outcomes of all of our efforts in virtually
everything that we do. For example, in this past year my "key
lunches" with student groups have provided me with invaluable
insight into specific student concerns such as the need for more
help in language proficiency for students for whom English is
their second language. I have also enjoyed the multitude of
co-curricular activities that have been offered including, for
example, our Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month and I look
forward to participating in a variety of activities this coming
year. As our campus is always changing, we will need to renew our
commitment each year to improve campus climate.

Community Perceptions in 1994:

Good value for the money

Under appreciated

Struggling

Misunderstood

Community Perceptions in 1998:

Good value for the money

Under appreciated

Changing

Offers a real-world education

Six years ago our budgets were inadequate and declining.
Today our budget is much more robust, and we just experienced the
largest single annual increase in the history of the California
State University System. However, not surprisingly, we also have
many challenges for the use of these funds. As has often been
alleged, "Universities raise as much money as possible from as
many sources as possible and then spend it."

Some immediate outcomes include:

Faculty compensation pool increases of 17% over the last
three years and staff compensation increases of 15% over the
same time period

Deferred maintenance from less than $300,000/Yr. in FY 94
to more than $4,000,000/Yr. today

Overall budget of $7,520/FTE in FY94 to $9,290 /FTE in
FY01.

And one of our biggest challenges:

A $15+ Million price tag for CMS over the next 5-8
years.

Six years ago the city was rapidly reinventing itself. Today
that rebirth continues in full swing and is about to dramatically
accelerate. Over one dozen new, major buildings will be
constructed over the next 5-6 years. Those will include our new
library, new apartments on Fourth Street, several new hotels,
several new office buildings, a new city hall and civic center,
and a new home or the opera and for the symphony. We also expect
to see a light rail extension to our campus and perhaps one day
BART will give students from he east bay a new way to commute to
campus.

Other areas in which we have expended thought and energy and
which are evolving to improve the campus include: an increased
emphasis on service learning and community service experiences for
our students, expanded assessment of our programs, greater emphasis
on "designer programs" (programs with an industry specific focus
such as our MBA/MEE for CISCO), and distance education. We have
also developed full partnerships with many companies. We are an
authorized "SUN Academic JAVA Campus" and offer the SUN UNIX
Certificate Program and we have just signed a 5 year partnership
with CISCO that provides us with approximately $1M in resources
annually aimed at student internships and scholarships, faculty
externships, and a CISCO Fellows Program among other shared
arrangements. We are also providing a leadership role through our
K-16 Partnership efforts and our efforts with Joint Venture Silicon
Valley and the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group in closing the
"digital divide" and the challenges of the "workforce gap" in the
valley.

There are many more components to our university and they too
are all moving in the right direction, a direction the ensures that
we provide a quality of education to our students we can be proud
of, a quality of work environment for our faculty and staff that
they deserve and need, and quality services to all of our
clienteles. Such and environment nurtures pride and pride nurtures
quality and visa versa.

Together we have accomplished much and we have many reasons to
be proud. Each year many, many of our faculty and staff bring
distinction to the university by their research and professional
achievements. It is especially gratifying when this work is
recognized by outside independent sources.

The
U.S. News and World Report edition of best graduate
schools listed our MPH one of the top 10 nationally, our OT
program as one of the top 19 nationally, and our School of
Library Science as one of the best in the nation;

The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education lists us among
the top 26 universities for graduating the most Hispanic students
nationally.

While in many ways the heart of what we doÐproviding an
accessible, affordable, quality education, with a solid arts and
sciences base, for our studentsÐhas, in many ways, remained
unchanged since we were founded, just about everything else about
the educational process and how we create and support the
environment in which that education happens has changed. And the
pace of that change accelerates.

We are an innovative and entrepreneurial campus, reflecting the
character of the valley we have helped create. And, we have used
that innovation to manage the change we experience and to guide our
efforts in ways that lead to continued progress. The following
select examples are illustrative:

James F. Boccardo Business Education Center

A.S. Child Care Center and University House

Facilities: I have already mentioned the Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. Library and the 10 St Student Services Center. The
former, a unique partnership with the city and the latter an
architecturally creative use of existing space in a
non-traditional way. Much of our existing space is underutilized
and, working with our many partners, we need to leverage that
space more effectively for the campus.

Other examples include:

NASA-Ames Partnership and Collaborative

Microprocessing Engineering Laboratory

University House

Athletics Weight Training Facility

Lundy Avenue Professional Development

University Police Addition to the 7th St. Garage

We appreciate your patience with the dust and noise as we move
these many projects forward. And you should know that our
facilities and development staff works in many ways to minimize the
disruption to our work days. For instance, the demolition of the
joint library was halted on commencement day so that families could
fully enjoy the many diploma ceremonies held on campus. And as you
can see, the major work of the Wahlquist demolition was done this
summer when the campus population is at its smallest.

Faculty and Staff Recruitment, Retention and Support:

We continue to primarily concentrate our efforts on improving
faculty and staff salaries and, as I mentioned earlier, we are
making solid progress. But we have a new challenge on this front,
the wildly escalating cost of housing in our Valley. Here too we
are thinking outside the box. Thanks to the efforts of many,
particularly Susan Hansen, Monica Rascoe and Don Kassing, we are
already on our way to help improve the situation for faculty/staff
and students.

Brochure of resources

RFI for student housing

Options for faculty/staff housing

Alternative transportation efforts

Partnerships: City/Fannie Mae, HUD/SVMG, VTA, and private
developers.

Instruction and Learning:

Through our Institute for Teaching and Learning we continue to
look at ways we can improve and develop new approaches to teaching,
including those using new technologies. We continue to develop more
distance education and online courses, providing our faculty with
the tools and time they need for such undertakings, which, in turn,
provide our students with new venues within which they can learn
and use their time most effectively. This Fall we are offering 34
asynchronous online courses in topics from business to hospitality
management to special education.

Student Services and Support:

Students in general are happier with the services they are
getting, with the campus, and with their education, but there are
still frustrating hurdles and roadblocks and, for many, it takes
too long to graduate. For some this outcome is a choice, for others
it is not. Class availability for many remains a problem. That
problem has been exacerbated by our shift in majors over the last
decade, concentrating approximately 70% of our majors in 14 or so
programs. We need to continue to mitigate this problem. Students
will live with many challenges, but if we provide good services and
the majors they want and classes they need, we are much more likely
to attract them, retain them, graduate them, and have them continue
to support us as satisfied alums. We have taken many positive steps
to help ensure those outcomes including our new Student Services
Center in which are housed our Student Resources and Student
Learning Centers.

Teacher Recruitment:

The need for teachers had never been greater. As a result of
demographics and accelerated retirements, the State will need
between 250,000 and 300,000 new teachers over the next decade. We
are working hard to make sure that we are dong our part to fulfill
this need, for example:

--"It Takes a Valley" Grant

--CalTeach

--CalStateTEACH

--Professional Development Schools

--BITSA

Through these kinds of efforts we have had a 25 percent increase
in the SJSU pipeline, which is comparable to the increase system
wide.

However, it's a continued concern that we are, in essence,
preparing many teachers for the rest of the state, because the cost
of real estate in this valley makes it impossible for new teachers
to buy homes and settle here.

What do we gain from our innovation and creative thinking, from
our willingness to do things differently? We gain a great deal. We
gain facilities that meet the needs of today's students, faculty
and staff. We gain the equipment that is essential to quality and
state-of-the-art instruction. We gain the tools that faculty need
to teach and that students need to learn. We become a university
better able to serve its region and the state. We gain recognition
for what we are able to accomplish and pride for having done
so.

We are working to keep that momentum going. Thanks to the
research of University Advancement, I am meeting with San José
state alumni who are CEO's and presidents of major firms all the
time. These connections are vital to create partnerships and
support many of the initiatives that come from you.

We are San José State University; we are the Metropolitan
University for this valley, this unique part of the world. For 143
years we have empowered the people of this valley to be successful.
We have helped create the valley and we have helped to sustain it.
Though we are experiencing change in virtually everything we do and
encounter, our mission is unwavering. We remain the primary higher
education link to the future for the citizens of this region. We
are their bridge to the future.

So welcome back to our faculty, thank you to everyone for your
dedication and for all you have done, and best wishes for a great
year.